


Love in heartbreak

by AmyriustrixR0se



Category: Calamity Jane (1953)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of possible infertility, Romance, Wanting children, background Katie Brown/Danny Gilmartin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 02:02:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16483964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmyriustrixR0se/pseuds/AmyriustrixR0se
Summary: Calamity gets an arrow to the shoulder while bringing the stagecoach in with Rattlesnake. She attempts to heal herself but it ends up a.. well, a calamity. Bill has been out all day on a hunting campaign before retiring to the bar for a drink where he’s told the yarnball. By now, it’s that she’s on her deathbed.But he soon finds out it isn’t the injury that’s causing her the most pain...





	Love in heartbreak

**Author's Note:**

> Hi :)  
> I've been in love with this musical and its characters since I was eleven (I'm twenty-three now). I've always wanted to write a fanfic for Calamity/Bill but I never happened upon the category until a few months ago. Now, here I am! Posting my first fic of them!
> 
> A little warning: it's a bit more sad than I originally planned. And I'm not sure if I'll be turning it into a multi-chap :)
> 
> Happy Reading!

 

“Hey, Bill! What’re ya doin’ here? Thought you’d be home, you know…” a friend of his trailed off with a vague gesture.

Bill set down his money for a drink and chuckled, “What are you talking about?”

Millie appeared from behind the bar. He took the cigar from his mouth and looked solemn of sorts. “Well, with Calamity...”

Bill gave a soft snort. What sort of shenanigans did she get into now? “What about her?” he asked. But the more Millie kept quiet and fidgeted with his cigar, the more his heart slowed and the more his blood cooled in his veins. He watched the man carefully. “Millie-”

“Shot with an arrow, she was,” a ranch-hand mulled over a glass of whiskey. “On ‘er deathbed as we speak.”

A part of him refused to believe there was any truth to that statement. Surely it had to be one of her famed stories again! Bill looked to Millie for confirmation but the man didn’t look at him.

He cursed under his breath and left the bar without hesitation.

* * *

 

The front door slammed shut. She jumped then winced at the pain in her shoulder.

“Calam? Calam!” Bill shouted. She heard him thump around the living room, apparently trying to look for her and apparently forgetting how to navigate his way around their house. “Calam!”

“Quit yer yappin’!” she grunted. “I’m fine!”

He stopped in the doorway of the kitchen. He took in her appearance for a brief moment – alive, bloodied, attempting at bandaging, but alive – before going to her. “What happened?” he gruffed. “You tell one of your stories again? Try to make folk here tell me you were out here dyin’?” He snatched a bottle of whiskey from the table and grabbed a fresh rag.

“’Course not, Bill. You know I would never-” She winced at the sting of alcohol. “’Sides, Millie checked in on me a few hours ago- Thought he’d tell ya I was alright.”

Bill muttered under his breath, “Well, he didn’t. Said you were on your deathbed.”

She inhaled sharply as he put more pressure on her wound than necessary. “I guess I was a little worse for wear when he came in.” She frowned at his hands at the more pressure he put. She moved away from him and out of his grip when his hand caught her upper arm. “Leave me be, Bill. Yer makin’ it worse.”

“If ya’d hold still, it wouldn’t hurt.”

She squirmed. “I’m fine.”

“No, ya ain’t,” he grunted. “Now sit.”

He could read her better than anyone, and he knew she didn’t want him around at all. It wasn’t her injury that had her pushing him away. Something else happened, and he had a strong feeling what it was.

Something they never really addressed. And it caused him great pain to see her so hurt.

He carefully plucked out splinters left in her shoulder from the Sioux tribe arrow. “What ‘appened, Calam?” he asked, his voice turning soft.

She sighed and watched her husband not mind at what blood got on his shirt. “I saw Katie today. You know, before I left,” she said quietly as if speaking about it would crop up bad memories. “She’s real happy.”

He heard the brokenness in her voice, but he couldn’t help but nod. He washed her wound once more before bandaging it up. “I know. Danny’s the same way.” He thought of the Second Lieutenant bragging about it over drinks at Millie’s a few days ago. He set their first-aid supplies aside and took her hand in his.

“Bill-” she strained tiredly, clearly trying to hide that she wasn’t hurting.

He kissed her knuckle an brought her close for a brief moment. “I know.”

She clung to him when he made to move away. “What’re we doin’ wrong?” she said. “Why- why can’t we have youngins?”

His eyes met her blues and he saw her sadness and heartbreak. “I don’t know.”

She turned her head away, a small sob slipping out.

He reached to turn her in his arms but she pushed out of his grasp, leaving the room and leaving both him and her to hurt alone.

“Calam,” he called after her but the only reply he got was the bedroom door slamming shut.

He sat down at the table, leaning forward and putting his head in his hands. He sighed – what sort of a man was he if he couldn’t give her a child?


End file.
